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beckydham's review against another edition
This wasn't exactly what I was thinking it would be, but somewhat interesting. The crazy amount of authors really keeps it from coming together well.
provaprova's review against another edition
3.0
A "world in a grain of sand" enterprise, it succeeds better at the task than I expected. (The sections on modern art are very strained, however. I would've preferred some mathematical analysis of the mazes generated and their properties to that whole section.)
thirtytwobirds's review against another edition
4.0
The first 50% or so of this book is super-pretentious, annoying artsy yammering. The second half is a wonderful little technical romp, especially if you have some experience programming asm. Definitely worth speeding through the smelly half to dive into the fun.
drj's review
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
The book's entire subject is a single one-line program:
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
This is a BASIC language program that RUNs on the C64
to produce a maze that scrolls up the screen as more of it is
produced.
It's a neat tricky for a one line program.
The book is an exploration of the program, the historical
context in which it appeared, the computer (playfully referred
to as the "taupe unit"), the social act of sharing code, mazes,
and alternative possibilities that the program suggests.
I grew up in the 1980s and loved the microcomputers of that era,
though i never had ready access to a C64 until emulators became
easily available. But i had never known of this program until
quite recently.
Both the program and the book are delightful. The discussion is
wide-ranging and diverse, from Greek mythology to 6502 machine
code instructions.
The discussion is thorough without being complete, as it should be.
It is deep enough to show that the text has been engaged with
convingly, without closing off all further avenues. Like the
mazes produced by the program itself, the edges are unframed,
left open for other workers to explore.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in 1980s
microcomputers or the close reading of computer programs.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
This is a BASIC language program that RUNs on the C64
to produce a maze that scrolls up the screen as more of it is
produced.
It's a neat tricky for a one line program.
The book is an exploration of the program, the historical
context in which it appeared, the computer (playfully referred
to as the "taupe unit"), the social act of sharing code, mazes,
and alternative possibilities that the program suggests.
I grew up in the 1980s and loved the microcomputers of that era,
though i never had ready access to a C64 until emulators became
easily available. But i had never known of this program until
quite recently.
Both the program and the book are delightful. The discussion is
wide-ranging and diverse, from Greek mythology to 6502 machine
code instructions.
The discussion is thorough without being complete, as it should be.
It is deep enough to show that the text has been engaged with
convingly, without closing off all further avenues. Like the
mazes produced by the program itself, the edges are unframed,
left open for other workers to explore.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in 1980s
microcomputers or the close reading of computer programs.
spiderkid's review against another edition
3.0
I understood some of this but only because I asked my dad like 500 questions
thomcat's review against another edition
4.0
Deconstruction of a single line maze generation program in Commodore 64 Basic. A ten author collaboration that is mostly interesting. The discussions of what makes a maze and diversions into textiles were not terribly interesting; the deconstruction of an assembly version of the same code was fascinating. Comprehensive list of sources, plenty of relevant illustrations. Would mostly be a good book to base an intro to programming course on.
msaari's review against another edition
4.0
As a Commodore 64 BASIC programmer myself, this was a must read. Not a disappointment, either, as the book covered lots of interesting ground around the oneliner program and its cultural connotations.
scotbuff's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed it. An interesting read for computer geeks, particularly those of us who grew up in the 1980s and used a C64 or programmed in BASIC.